No clear weather pattern emerges during January in Chemainus

January continued the trend towards slightly above normal temperatures that started last November, as a weak Pacific Ocean El Nino persisted into the new year.

“The weather was seasonably dull with accumulated precipitation that was also a bit above normal and mostly in the form of rain because of the relatively mild temperatures,” pointed out Chris Carss, who collects weather data at his Chemainus home for Environment Canada.

“As in December, the precipitation came in a relatively few number of days compared to normal. There were no particular patterns to the weather as all the main elements of temperature, precipitation and sunshine were distributed fairly evenly throughout the month.”

Carss added the influence of El Nino on the local weather up to late January came to an abrupt end at the beginning of February with the sudden arrival of a polar vortex that descended from the Arctic.

“It appears destined to bring us another old-style wintry February for the third year in a row. Those previous spring-like Februaries of the 1990s and early 2000s seem like a distant memory these days, but they are bound to return eventually as global warming continues to have its longer term effects on our weather.”

January’s total rainfall amounted to 275.5 millimetres, with a snowfall of 2.2 centimetres for a combined total precipitation of 277.7 mm.

There were eight days of mostly or partly sunny conditions, one more than the normal. Of the 23 mostly cloudy days, 15 had precipitation.

January’s mean maximum temperature of 7.6 Celsius was above the normal of 6.8C. The mean minimum was 3.0C, also above the 2.3C normal.

The extreme maximum of 10.5C occurred on Jan. 3 and 10. The extreme minimum was -1.5C Jan. 16.